EDC 102H F09 Context Reports

Community Data for the 02857 Zip Code

School District: Scituate
Group members: Hannah Gardner, Samantha Wagner

I. Community Data Collection

A. Income Poverty Data

	Scituate	Rhode Island	US
Median household income	$59,778	$54,060	$50,007
Median family income	$68,430	$68,740	$60,374
Per capita income	$28,280	$27,515	$26,178
Families below poverty level	27 families 1.1%	8.3%	9.8%
Individuals below poverty level	200 families 2.4%	11.7%	13.3%
In Labor Force (16+)	4,683 69.9%	563,758 66%	64.7%

Overall, Scituate performs better than Rhode Island and the country as a whole. The income for a median household in Scituate has approximately $5,000 more than Rhode Island, and almost $10,000 more than the country. However, Scituate's median family income is about $300 less than the state, but still is $8,000 more than the country. Per capita income is the highest between the state and the country coming in at $28,280, about $1,000 higher than the state and $2,000 higher than the country. There are barely any families below poverty level in Scituate, which has 1.1% of its families below that poverty level, which equates to about 27 families. That is 7% lower than the state and 8% lower than the country. Scituate still remains below 5% with individuals below poverty level, coming in at 2.4%, a staggering 9.3% lower than the state and 11% lower than the country. However, Scituate does have the higest precentage of people 16 years and older working in the labor force at 69.9%, 3% higher than the state and 5% higher than the country. Nonetheless, Scituate still comes out above Rhode Island and the United States in most aspects.

B. Race and Ethnicity Data

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	Scituate	Rhode Island	US
White	8,309 98.4%	878,821 82.7%	74.1%
Black/African Americans	23 0.3%	55,906 5.3%	12.4%
Asian	32 0.4%	28,573 2.7%	4.3%
Hispanic	55 0.7%	116,109 10.9%	14.7%
American Indian or Alaska native	7 0.1%	4,482 0.4%	.8%

Scituate is a predominantly white town. Out of the 878,821 white people in Rhode Island, 8,309 of them live in Scituate. That equates to about a 98.4% white population for the town alone. Out of the 55,906 African Americans in the state, 23 of them live in Scituate, creating a percentage of .3%. There are 32 Asians, 55 Hispanics and 7 American Indian or Alaskan Natives living in Scituate. All of the races combined presents a percentage of 1.2%. It is overwhelmingly obvious that Scituate has a white population.

C. Census-Based Indicators

	Scituate	Rhode Island
Child population	2,635	234,821
Children in single-parent families	12%	31%
Children living in families below the federal poverty threshold	4.3%	17.5%
Teens not in school and not working	10.1%	6%
Households with grandparents financially responsible for grandchildren	2%	4,275
High School Graduate or Higher	87.1%	82.7%
Bachelor's Degree or Higher	33.6%	29.4%
Speak a Language Other than English	314 4.0%	205,238 20.5%

Out of the 234,821 children in Rhode Island, 2,635 of them live in the town of Scituate. Twelve percent of those children live in single-parent homes, compared to that of the 31% in the state. Only 4.3% of the children are living in households that are below the poverty threshold compared to the 17.5% of Rhode Island. Scituate has a higher precentage of teens that are not working and not in school, 10.1%, compared to the 6% of Rhode Island teens. However, the population of Scituate is more educated than that of Rhode Island as a whole. Scituate has 87.1% of its population who are high school graduates or higher and 33.6% who have a bachelors degree or higher. However, out of the 205,238 people who speak another language than English in Rhode Island, 314 of them live in Scituate.

D. Economic Well-Being Indicators

	Scituate	Rhode Island
Food Stamp Program participation	68%	77%
School Breakfast Program participation	9%	29%
Births to mothers with less than a high school diploma	3%	15%
Children in families receiving cash assistance	1%	6%

According to the data, Scituate is shown to have a good economic well-being compared to the state. Only 68% of the people participate in the food stamp program whereas 77% of Rhode Island citizens participate. There is a difference of 20% with the children who participate in the school breakfast program in Scituate (9%) and those in Rhode Island as a whole (29%). In addition only 3% of children in Scituate are born with a mother who has less than a high school diploma versus 15% of children in Rhode Island. Finally there are only 1% of children in Scituate with families receiving cash assistance and Rhode Island has 6% of children coming from families that receive cash assistance. The economic well-being of Scituate is much better than the average economic well-being of Rhode Island.

E. Health Indicators

	Scituate	Rhode Island
Number of children under 19 receiving medical assistance	406	84,717
Children with elevated blood lead levels	2.4%	4.5%
Drug use by high school students	24%	27%
Alcohol use by high school students	43%	38%
Birth rate per 1,000 girls ages 15 - 19	8.1	30.4
Domestic Violence Incidents Resulting in Arrest with Children Present	38%	29%

Overall Scituate is a healthy community. Out of the 84,717 children in Rhode Island under the age of 19 receiving medical assistance only 406 of them live in Scituate. Only 2.4% of the children in Scituate report elevated blood levels compared to the 4.5% living in the state. The drug use by high school students in Scituate varies only 3% than Rhode Island, but the alcohol use among high schoolers is 5% higher than that of the state. Scituate's birth rate however is significantly lower than that of Rhode Island's at 8.1, the state's being at 30.4. Shockingly, the amount of domestic violence incidents resulting in arrest with children present is 38%, almost 10% higher than Rhode Island.

F. Safety Indicators

	Scituate	Rhode Island
Child abuse and neglect rate per 1,000 children	2.3	10.7
Rate of Children with incarcerate parents (per 1,000 children)	3.4	11.1
Domestic Violence Incidents with Children Present	38%	29%

Scituate seems to be a safe community to live in for children compared to Rhode Island as a whole. The child abuse and neglect rate per 1,000 children in Scituate is only 2.3 children whereas it is 10.7 children in Rhode Island. This is a difference of 8.4 children. Rhode Island's rate of children with incarcerate parents per 1,000 children is 11.1 children compared to 3.4 children in Scituate. That is a much smaller number. Unfortunately though the percentage of domestic violence incidents with children present in Scituate is 38% which is 9% higher than that of Rhode Island's. Most of the data displays Scituate as a safe community for children to grow up in but domestic violence must improve for it to be much safer.

G. Education Indicators

	Scituate	Rhode Island
Early intervention participation	8%	10%
Students enrolled in special education	12%	18%
Children in full-day kindergarten	0%	58%
4th graders at or above the reading proficiency level	79%	68%
8th graders at or above the reading proficiency level	87%	65%
4th graders at or above the math proficiency level	69%	63%
8th graders at or above the math proficiency level	74%	53%
High school attendance rate	95%	91%
Suspension rate (per 100 students)	28	30
High school graduation rate	84%	74%

The education indicators show that Scituate has a better education compared to the average education of Rhode Island even though the differences are not too vast. The percentage of 4th graders at or above the reading proficiency level is 79% whereas it is only 68% for the state as a whole. As for the eight graders at or above the reading proficiency level, it is 87% for Scituate and 65% for Rhode Island. This shows that the reading proficiency level increases in Scituate as children grow older and decreases in Rhode Island. The fourth graders at or above the math proficiency level is 69% for Scituate and 63% for Rhode Island. There is only a difference of 6% but it is important to note. The difference between Scituate and Rhode Island for the percentage of eighth graders at or above the math proficiency level is 21% because Scituate is 74% and Rhode Island is 53%. The high school attendance for 95% for Scituate and 91% for Rhode Island, which shows that only 5% of people in Scituate do not attend school on a regular basis. Scituate's graduation rate is 10% higher than Rhode Island's since it is 84%. Although this is not an excellent graduation rate, it is still much better than the average Rhode Island school. The suspension rate per 100 students is 2 students less than the state average, which is not too great of a difference. Some other negative education indicators are they there are no children in full day kindergarten, which may hurt them in their future education and only 8% of children in Scituate participate in early intervention programs as opposed to 10% of children in the whole state. As for special education, there are 12% enrolled in Scituate and 18% enrolled in the state. This could be because there are not many children with special needs in Scituate or they do not have an adequate program for it. Looking at Scituate's education as a whole, it is better than the average education in Rhode Island but not by much and there are a few negative parts of their education system.

H. Geographical Location

Scituate is located in the northern part of Rhode Island, mostly towards the center of the state. The community is rural in its entirety and is surrounded by Glocester, Foster, Coventry, Cranston, Johnston, and Smithfield. Below is a satellite image of Scituate, Rhode Island. As one can see, it is not urbanized at all.

II. Narrative Description of Community

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